We’re looking to add a senior developer to the Laminar Research team in the coming weeks.
As an X-Plane developer, you would work on both our desktop and mobile simulators, and you'd have quite a bit of latitude to work on the projects you find most interesting. At various points, you might find yourself doing things like:
- UI development
- Low-level performance optimization
- Improvements to the X-Plane SDK used by third parties
- Networking
- Rendering engine work
- Platform-specific OS integrations
(We don't expect you to come into the role with deep knowledge of all those things. We like to hire "T-shaped developers," people with deep knowledge in one or two areas, who can be flexible and pick up new stuff in other areas as the need arises.)
As a member of our team, you would:
- Work on stuff that matters. Real pilots fly safer because of training in X-Plane, and real aerospace organizations (like Boeing, Cessna, and NASA, to name just a few) prototype aircraft in X-Plane before they build them in the real world.
- Work on a product that millions of people will see. You’ll get feedback from users, and that feedback will drive future development.
- Have tremendous input on the direction of the product. Because X-Plane is an exceedingly small team, every team member has a lot of say about what we work on and how we make the simulator better for our users.
- Set your own schedule. As far as we’re concerned, if you’re shipping features and fixing bugs, it’s your business when you do so.
- Work remote. No commute, no cubicles, nothing to impede you from doing great work. (But the rest of the team is just a Slack conversation away!)
- Work on a variety of technologies and products. At various points, you might work on X-Plane, Plane Maker, WED, the X-Plane installer, or the MMO server.
A qualified candidate will:
- Have experience shipping major features in production applications with minimal oversight.
- Be a quick learner—we expect much of what you need to know to be learned on the job.
- Have the self-discipline to work from home and set your own schedule. (It’s not for everyone.)
- Have excellent English communication skills.
It’s a bonus—but not strictly necessary!—if you have specific experience relevant to X-Plane. There’s no exhaustive list of skills we could use, but some possible examples include:
- Real-time graphics
- Real-time C++ development
- Mobile development
- Game development
- GIS data processing
- Networking
- The X-Plane plugin system
Here’s a rough idea of what the interview process will look like for the candidate we hire. (We might decline to proceed further with you at any stage—don’t take that as a snub, as we may have already found candidates with more relevant experience.)
- Our take-home project is designed to be done in 3-4 hours for candidates with lots of experience in C++ and native app development, but it will take longer if you’re new to this sort of thing.
- The project is designed to be as similar as possible to the real work you’d be doing day-to-day. (It’s pulled from real features we’ve shipped in the past.) This helps us understand if you’d be a good fit for the role, but it can also help you decide if you’d like the work.
- We don’t want to waste your time, so we won’t ask you to do the take-home project unless we think there’s a good chance you’ll succeed.
Things that are intentionally not included in our interview process:
- Flying you halfway across the world for an in-person interview
- Solving “puzzles” unrelated to real programming
- Answering silly “CS trivia” questions
- Writing code that bears no resemblance to something you would actually need on the job (e.g., “reverse a linked list”)
- Writing code under pressure, or with someone looking over your shoulder
In general, we don’t believe that subjecting candidates to a stressful interview process makes the process any better—we’ll do our best to make sure you’re comfortable.
Send an email introduction to hiring at X-Plane.com that includes:
- A brief overview of a project (or projects) you’ve enjoyed working on
- Discussion of projects you have not enjoyed working on
- Why you think you’d be a great fit for X-Plane
- Optional: a resume, links to GitHub/StackOverflow/your blog/etc.—anything you think will help us understand who you are as a developer
(Not sure if this is a good fit for you? Email me anyway and we can talk. 🙂 )
We’re looking to hire pretty quickly, so we’ll stop taking new applicants on the February 19th, 2021.
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